Why Nobody's Having Babies Anymore

The David McWilliams Podcast

David McWilliams

News & Politics

4.5 • 692 Ratings

🗓️ 26 May 2026

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Birth rates are collapsing, not just in rich countries, but everywhere from Mexico to Tunisia. The FT's John Burn-Murdoch joins us to unpack the surprising culprit, why young people aren't just having fewer kids, they're not even coupling up, and what it means for the future of work, wealth,

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode of the podcast is brought to you by Cantafetzgerald, Ireland, proud sponsors of my own
0:06.5	festival, a Dauke Book Festival, which is on the 18th and 21st of June. Now, in Dauke, you're going to
0:12.7	expect four days of ideas, of literature, of politics, of economics, comedy and culture, with over
0:19.5	100 writers, including Salman Rushdie, Tim Berners-Lee,
0:22.9	the man who founded the internet, and of course Booker Prize winner Anne Endwright. Join us this
0:28.4	summer in Docky. Thanks again to Cantfordstjeril, Ireland, helping people plan with clarity,
0:33.6	invest with confidence and build loss and wealth. Find out more at canterfordsgerald.I.E.
0:39.2	Kentiffinsgerald Ireland Limited is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.
0:44.0	All coming up on the podcast, fertility, babies, sex, why younger generations are not having sex.
0:50.7	And if they are having sex, they're not having sex, they're not having said, they're not actually
0:52.9	producing babies and what this means for the world. But the key issue is, why is this the case? We have an
1:00.4	unusual culprit in the room. And also, we're going to be talking to Ibeck about what Irish
1:06.3	businesses are seen through the lens of Washington, London and Brussels.
1:13.6	Talk to you in a couple of minutes.
1:15.6	To understand the economy, you have to understand human nature.
1:22.6	This podcast is powered by ACAST.
1:27.5	How you doing there?
1:29.1	It is uncharacteristic of the podcast,
1:32.8	which we are going to be talking,
1:34.1	Joan, which is going to be rather, rather uncomfortable.
1:36.2	We're talking, going to be talking about sex.
1:38.1	Oh, God.
	...

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